BEVERLY - After losing in extra innings the night before, Hamilton-Wenham Little League all-star manager Mark Michel knew that last night's game against Beverly West game would be the toughest of the District 15 Williamsport tournament.
But his team avoided a letdown, bounced back and ousted Beverly West, 5-1, at Harry Ball Field behind the strong pitching of 11-year-old Austen Michel.
Michel went 5 2/3 innings before reaching the maximum pitch count allowed (85); he departed with a 5-1 lead. Hamilton-Wenham teammate Cam Collins came on to get the save, retiring the only batter he faced.
Michel threw 79 pitches over the first five innings (53 for strikes), holding Beverly to just a pair of singles, walked two and struck out nine.
"Austen threw strikes and was able to go deep into the game," said his manager. "As an 11-year-old he's not going to overpower anybody, so he has to pick his spots. He worked the corners and threw a few breaking balls to keep them off balance.
"We only had seven hits tonight, but they were timely."
While Hamilton-Wenham got those timely hits, Beverly West had runners on base at various times, but couldn't string hits together. It left runners on first and second in the first inning, and wasted a leadoff single by Sean Curtin in the third. He moved over to third on two wild pitches, but was stranded there when Michel struck out the next three batters.
Beverly's only run came in the fourth inning after H-W had built up a 5-0 lead. Tyler Corsbie worked a two-out walk, and two consecutive fielding errors by the Generals put Beverly West on the board.
The home team left two more on in the fifth when Mike Rotundo reached on an error and Keith Hebert singled, but once again Michel bore down to get out of the inning.
"We couldn't get timely hitting," said Beverly manager Gary Munzing. "We lost our first game 2-0 (to Gloucester National), and once again failed to come up with key hits when we needed to (last night) while Hamilton-Wenham got those hits to put runs on the board.
"But I have no complaints with these kids. They played hard in both games and gave 110 percent. Our pitchers threw strikes and the defense was decent. I couldn't ask for anything more from them."
Brendan Boyle started for Beverly West and went four innings, giving up five runs on seven hits. He walked only one and struck out four. Amazingly, 41 of his 55 pitches were strikes. Curtin came on in the fifth and retired all six batters he faced in order, striking out four. He threw 19 pitches, 16 for strikes.
H-W had a big third inning, scoring four times on five hits. Drew Gallant singled to start things off, and Grant Thompson reached on a bunt single. Michel helped himself with a two-out, two-run double, and Patrick Daly followed with a bloop single to drive in another run. The fourth came home on James Foye's sacrifice bunt.
In the fourth inning, Kyle Craig came off the bench to crack an RBI double for the winners.
Hamilton-Wenham is now 2-1 in District 15 tournament action. It will play Ipswich tomorrow at Groveland (7 p.m.).
